How to File Sales Tax in Texas in 15 MINUTES and Set Up Online Account Access

Hi everyone, my name is Loma, and on my channel I teach entrepreneurs business and money management skills. Today let's get into, uh, we want to get into actually how to file it, your sales tax return. Let me show you how to do it in 15 minutes. Okay, if you're a first-time user, where you really want to go first if you're trying to learn to do this on your own is go to this webpage at comptroller.texas.gov/taxes, and then you'll scroll down to the bottom here, and what you're going to do is you're going to click on this eSystem Webfile login. That's not true, actually. What you're going to do is you're going to— if you're a first-timer, What you're going to do is you're going to go to the Webfile videos, and what you're going to find is videos that they've created that walk you through each of the steps that you need to do in order to file your sales tax return. They're not going to give you any sales tax filing advice, but they are going to show you how to first set up— if you're a first-time user, they're going to show you how to sign up. They're going to explain the, the new user registration process. They're going to show you what information you're going to need. They're going to— and there's going to be something called a Webfile number you'll need to look up. It'll be on any of the paperwork that you receive from the Texas Comptroller's office. So it normally is on that first one. The next thing you're going to need to do is actually find your 11-digit sales tax number. And they've got all these very useful videos that show you step by step exactly how to navigate the website and how to file your actual sales tax return. So let's go through this first video together where it shows you how to set up your online account.

This video explains how to create a Webfile account. The Webfile online tax filing system webfile system is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through the Comptroller's office, making it easy and convenient to file reports and extensions and to make payments. Be aware that the webfile system times out after 30 minutes of inactivity. And before getting started, you will need your 11-digit Texas taxpayer number and your webfile number. And remember, you can pause this video at any time. So let's create an account. From our homepage, select the Webfile button. If you are a first-time Webfile user, click on the yellow Sign Up button. Next, you'll create a profile. Create your user ID, enter your personal information, and create a password. The password must include a capital letter, a lowercase letter, a number, and a special character. The password must be at least 8 characters long. Choose a security question and answer. This is important information that will be used to reset your password if you ever forget it. Next, review the terms of use. Accept them by clicking on the box and choose Create User Profile to save the information you just entered. Congratulations! Your user profile has been created. Click Continue. Need additional help? Call 1-800-442-3453 or email webfilehelp@fl.gov.

Alright, so as you can see, the process for setting up your online account is pretty simple. What I would advise though is once you put that in the system and you've chosen a password, just make sure that you put that password down somewhere nice and safe. I'll be releasing another video on organizing your passwords and credentials and things like that. Just different tips on how you can keep your information secure and make sure that you don't have trouble getting logged into your different websites that you need to access for your business. The Webfile website, which is where you're actually filing your tax return.

If you don't have a Webfile account, view our How to Create a Webfile Account video to learn how to sign up. If you already have an account, let's continue.

This video explains how to Webfile pay taxes and fees. The Webfile online filing system is available 24/7 through the Comptroller's website. Let's get started. Enter your user ID and password and select Login. The eSystems menu page allows you to access electronic filing, sales tax applications, franchise accountability questionnaire, CNBL, HUB, as well as others. The Webfile Access page provides you with the ability to view accounts that have already been added to your profile, and you can also add new accounts. To file return—

just a quick note here, most of y'all will only have one item right here, one line, and that's for your one location. Now, if you have more than one location, that's where you'll see more than one line. So in this case, it looks like this person— and, and it's not just for the location, it's also for the type of tax that you have to pay. So this person must sell alcohol, so they've got a mixed beverage sales tax that they have to file. They have to file their sales and use tax. That's, that's a separate tax from the mixed beverage one. And then they also have to file a franchise tax, which means that they have a corporation registered with the state of Texas. And because of that reason, they've got these multiple accounts basically that they have to file. File the different taxes for, and that's why you're seeing multiple. But for most of y'all, you'll see only one. If you registered with the state of Texas and created a corporation, then you'll see two. One will be for your sales tax and one will be for your franchise tax. Let's continue with the video.

Or pay for an account you have already added to your profile, click on the taxpayer number next to the account. To add a new account, Enter your 11-digit Texas Taxpayer Number and click Continue. There are two columns on this page: Assigned Taxes/Fees and Available Taxes/Fees. Under Available Taxes/Fees, you will see a list of taxes that can be assigned to your profile. Click on the tax that you would like to file for. Enter your Webfile number. This appears on correspondence sent to you from the Comptroller.

Normally you guys won't see all of that that they just showed you. In fact, let me go back to that part real, just real quick. Okay, so normally what you'll see is this section in here that shows your franchise mixed beverage sales tax, only the items that apply to you, and then you'll click on the one that applies to you. This list on the right does not normally appear for most of you guys that are just selling regular products. Now if your products land in any of these other categories that you see on the right side, that's when you might see this list. But other than that, you'll just click on the sales and use tax. Now this next screen that they're about to come to where they tell you to enter your webfile number, that's where you're going to enter the number that was on the first letter that you received from the Texas Comptroller. And that letter will say Webfile number on the top right-hand side of the letter. If for some reason you can't find that letter, you're going to need to call that 800 number. Again, that number is in the description below. Call that number and just let them know that you're needing to get access to your Webfile number. They'll ask you some security questions and then they'll let you— they'll give that information to you. And that way you can file your taxes online. Let me go— let her play forward on that part.

Click on the tax that you would like to file for. Enter your Webfile number. This appears on correspondence sent to you from the controller. Your Webfile number begins with the letters RT or XT and is followed by 6 numbers. If you don't know your Webfile number, check out our How to Find Your Webfile Number video in this channel. Read the access disclaimer, check I agree, and click on continue.

Click Continue.

Your access rights will be confirmed. Click Continue again. Once you have successfully assigned a tax, you will see the name of the tax in the Assigned Taxes/Fees column. Taxes listed under the Assigned Taxes/Fees have been added to your profile. If you do not have any taxes listed, you have not assigned any to your profile.

This situation is also gonna be a little bit different for you guys. In the earlier stages, you would have provided your Webfile number, and they'll already know which tax that you need to file, so they'll have added franchise tax. In fact, this video might be a little bit older now that I'm looking at it, but it's got the general gist of it, so I'm going to go ahead and play through. But just know that you're not going to have to go through and find which tax that applies to you. They already know which one applies to your tax ID number, and they will add it to your profile when you, when you added that Webfile number.

Click on the tax that you assigned. We will now look at the reporting and paying menu for your Webfile account. The functions available on this page vary based on the type of tax you selected. This example shows our sales tax menu. You can only pick one at a time. We will go over what each section does. At the top of the list, you have the option to file a return. You can pick File Original Return or the File Amended Return functions. You will have the choice at the end of the return to make a payment, or you can also choose to make a payment only. If that's what you're looking for, select that function and click Continue. Another option on the list is the View Return View Return Summary function. This is available for most tax types. After you filed a return, you will be able to see the return data we have on file for the taxpayer you selected. Select View Return Summary and click Continue. This is similar to what you will see in the View Return Summary page. This page provides a list of returns for your taxpayer account organized by period. The period 1407 in this example represents the July 2014 period. If you do not see any history, then no returns have been filed for the taxpayer you selected.

Right, so this, this screen right here is where you'll be able to see your full history for filing your sales tax return or your franchise tax, whichever taxes, tax returns that you filed. Actually, this is specifically for your sales tax. So on this screen, you'll be able to see the sales tax use tax returns that you filed in the past, and it's going to have the full history. If you were to ever need a copy of something that you filed in the past, you can always just click on the op— on the period that you need to find out the information on, and you'll be able to see what you paid. You'll be able to see exactly how much you filed. This comes in handy if, if you did not keep a copy or you have trouble accessing your copies. Sometimes people put their paperwork in storage and it makes it a little bit harder to access, so at least you have access to an online version of everything that you've already filed with the Comptroller.

Otherwise, click on the period for the return you have filed and click Continue. Then you'll see this. This is the Return Summary page. It provides a summary of the specific report you selected. The total amount due and payable may not reflect all discounts. You can go back by selecting Return to Menu. Finally, the last function on the list allows you to view the history for your electronic submissions. Select View Transaction History. The View Transaction History page lists all of the returns and payments you submitted on your Webfile account. Remember, you can go back to the Tax Menu by clicking Return. Now that you have assigned your tax your account and are familiar with navigating Webfile, you can file a return, make a payment, or add additional payer accounts. If you experience any issues or need assistance, call 1-800-442-3453.

Okay, so what they did was they just showed you how to navigate the Webfile system. Okay, so when you click on that, you're gonna be taken to this page where you're going to register if you haven't registered. So right here you see it says first-time user, click here to sign up. So as you see here, you, you're just gonna go ahead and fill out your first-time user information, create your profile, you're gonna set up your security questions, confirm that you're an accept their terms of usage and go ahead and confirm everything, and that way you can get your online setup. This is going to be the first and last time you'll have to do this. After this, the next step would be for you to actually log in and file your sales tax return. So once you log in, this is a screen that you'll see, and what you'll do is you'll click that you want to file your web file, pay taxes and fees. On this next screen, you'll see your business. On mine, you'll see nothing because we're going to redact that part. Okay, so you click on your tax account. Once you click on it, you should see the options for sales and use tax at the top. That's what— how you know that you're on the right page. And you're going to want to click the file original return right here. You do have other options. For example, if you decided to file your tax return, your sales tax return, and then you decided not to make the payment right after filing the tax return, then you have the option to come back afterwards and then just select this option to just make a payment only, and then you'd hit continue. In this case, we're going to do file original tax return and hit continue. Now what they're going to do is they're always going to prompt you for what the current tax return that's due. They'll show that on the screen. You'll click the selection button, and then once you do that, and you should— you'll see that it's the period of 2020. It's for the, uh, date ending at the end of December, and it's due, like I said, January 20th. All right, so for this period, you're going to click that period that you're going to be filing for. You'll hit continue and it's going to ask you some questions about any credits that you've taken. Are you planning to take any on this return? The answer is no. Are you taking any on this return for tax paid on bad debts? The answer is no. Did you refund sales tax for a filing period on any exported items? For this section, it's about the Licensed Customs Broker Exported Sales, which we don't have anything to do with, so the answer is going to be no. You'll hit— click Continue on there. Then for this next page, you'll see your business listed here. If you have more than one location, you'll see more than one listed here. Uh, you see they have this option here, check this box and click Continue if all amounts are zero. So this is where I was explaining that if you didn't have any sales, you still need to file. You'll check this box and then you'll click the Continue to go forward. Now in this case, we're not going to hit the— we're not going to click that box to go on to File 0. What we're going to do is we're going to say we have on the total Texas sales, we're going to say we had $100, and the actual amount of sales— so these are the actual sales that we're going to say that we made for the sake of this example. And so that would make our taxable sales because in this scenario, we would have charged sales tax for the full $100 worth of product. Whatever we sold, we would charge tax and collect that tax. So we're going to put $100 here as well. Now, the taxable purchases, this doesn't apply to us, so we're going to put 0. And we're going to go ahead and put in 0 for the other location just for the sake of this example, and click Continue. Now, as you see right here, they put— you can see where they summarize that you reported $100 in Texas sales, you reported that $100 worth of it is taxable, and then you can see right here the state tax, which is 6.25%, and then the other local tax, which is 2%. So the total again comes out to about 8.25%. And since we're doing this, um, the chart— we're doing this example, against $100 in sales, the total comes out to $8.25. You can earn a discount if you're— they're allowing you to claim a discount. Basically, they're automatically calculating it for you. It's, it's 0.5% of the amount of tax that that you paid, so, or what we're supposed to collect, the amount that you'll pay. So they'll give you a discount for filing on time, and then they'll also credit you for prepaying. So if you pay ahead of time, you'll get another credit. So you know how I mentioned that you guys are working for the government, they're kind of pimping you guys out for to collect the taxes for them. Well, they've also kind of built in a commission, if you want to call it, just if you file early and if you pay it early for when you collected it. So the next page you're going to see is, is to pay, make a payment on this $8.25, for example. And they'll give you the option to pay by credit card or with your bank account. Okay, so we're just going to pause here, and you'll be able to see the next stages whenever you get ready to file your own sales tax your next return. And once you pay, you're all good to go. You're, you're set and you're done until the next time it's time for you to file. The next time it's time for you to file, you won't have to set up a new registration. You'll just log right in. You'll go to the main web page, you'll click that Webfile option, and then you'll, you'll go ahead and go straight into logging in and start from where we showed you here today, which is selecting your company and then going through the next steps after that. And this is where it becomes really useful for you to learn this skill and be able to file your own sales tax return, because if you were to have to hire somebody else to do it, it could cost you easily $100 to $150 just on average to hire an accountant, hire an outside professional to file these sales tax for you. And that can get pretty costly for you to do when it's really overall the process of filing is It's just simple. You're keeping track of your sales and you're keeping track of the tax that you collect. And then you just report that information every month or every quarter, depending on which frequency that you've been scheduled for. And you let them know how much that you actually sold. And they'll be able to tell you how much you should have collected. And your numbers should match their number. And so that's how the overall process works of filing your taxes. This is the main website, and as you see, they do promote their Webfile. And Webfile, again, here, Webfile down here, you'll see, is easily accessible because they want to make it easy for you to file your sales tax return. And you'll find a lot of helpful links here as well. This portal is actually set up to where you can file your sales tax return as well as your franchise taxes. Franchise taxes, that is a different subject, and I'll go through that information in another video. But it has to do with if you filed for a corporation with the State of Texas, with the Secretary of State of Texas, then you will have received a letter from them saying that you're going to have to now start filing franchise taxes. So that is another subject that we can go into in another video. But right now, your focus is going to be your sales tax return and getting those filed on time, every time. And once you're ready to close down your business, if you decide to close down, or if you decide you've got some slow parts, make sure you let them know. If you got some slow times where— for slow times, you're still going to be reporting and filing, but for if you've actually stopped your business, you're going to need to report that so they can go ahead and close out your account. All right guys, so that just about wraps up our video for today, and I hope you got a lot of value out of this content on how to file your taxes in 15 minutes. And that should save you a lot of time. It should really take a lot of weight off your shoulders on making sure you can get your, your business handled in a quick amount of time without really overthinking things or worrying about what you're doing, if it's right or wrong. Hopefully I gave you enough guidance in this video. If you did find value in this video, if you can, please leave a comment below. Let me know if there's what you'd like to hear about next. If you guys did find this video helpful, make sure you like, share, and subscribe, and make sure you hit that bell notification if you want to know when I post my next video. I'm posting every Monday and Thursday because I've got a lot of information I want to share with you guys. Until next time, bye!